The Dolphin and the Cherry Blossom
by Red Rose Touga
Summary: A collection of IrukaSakura drabbles. All different. For the C2 Community The Dolphin and the Cherry Blossom. Please review!
1. Shatter

**A/N: This is a collection of IrukaSakura works dedicated to the C2 Community The Dolphin and the Cherry Blossom on fanfiction. net. Please give me reviews, I worked hard on these. I'll update every 3 days until I run out of ideas, so please be kind. Also check out Oneesan no Miroku Houshi's fanfiction. Her stuff kicks and she writes for this pairing.**

**Well, here you all go!**

**Drabble #1: Shatter**

**By: Anna T.**

**Pairing: SakuIru**

**Rating: PG**

**Genre: Romance/Angst/Psychological**

**Warnings: Iruka POV and symbolism as well as dark themed.**

**Words: 225**

I woke up from a dream.

I was all alone in a dark place, dead and cold and silent. All I could do was cling to myself, close the door, and forget.

I was dead.

I hated them for turning me into this, for killing me, for putting me in this prison. Then the hate began to subside and all that was left was nothingness. Bitter, bitter numbness and hollowness I couldn't control.

I was stuck there forever. It was no use to resist, to fight. No one could save me.

Not even you.

You were foolish to fight for me, foolish to think my tears were real, foolish to think that a girl like you could be my betrothed.

And then...

A splintering light fell into my dark cage, and you were there reaching out to me. They couldn't do anything. They couldn't stop you. I couldn't stop you.

You loved me, you loved me and gave away your everything, your body and soul and being to save me. Me, who was nothing. You, who were everything.

And I realized... This prison, this coffin, my death... I could get out again. You taught me to break free. To feel. To wake up.

And now that I'm awake, I'm coming to find you, wherever you are, and we will finally have what could have been.

**END**

**A/N: More to come, please review!**


	2. Wild Rose

**A/N: Another one? Damn skippy!**

**Drabble #2: Wild Rose**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Pairing: IruSaku**

**Rating: PG-13**

**Genre: Romance**

**Warning: Fluff, symbolism**

**Words: 177**

They met at the school that night. Outside it was chilly, pavement slick with freezing rain, and his one live-in nurse had warned him to stay in. "Remember your condition," She said, but wasn't getting paid enough to implement her advice.

Outside it was cold, pent up chilly air making the duo sweat like dew on freshly-watered roses. They slid against each other like slick soap, or courting fish, making love languorously, dreamily, breaking apart for intermission now and then like the night could prolong itself until the end of time. They couldn't stay apart for too long, though, irresistible in their fusion, like mercury droplets.

"Did you notice there weren't any pink roses in the rose garden?" Sakura looked up from where she was nestled against Iruka's chest, looking like a terribly little girl. "There's blue, and yellow, and even orange; but no pink." She pouted, endearingly.

"You're the pink rose." Iruka smiled down and petted Sakura's frigid tresses, crowning her face in uncultivated disarray. "You're the rarest rose of all. You grow in the wild."


	3. Points of Authority

**A/N: Okay this one is probably confusing. Basically it's InoXIrukaXSakura. Weird, I know. It goes like this, Ino told Sakura that she wasn't good enough for Iruka, and Sakura is dealing with social fear.**

**Drabble #3: Points of Authority**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Rating: PG-13**

**Pairing: SakuraIrukaIno**

**Genre: Angst/Romance**

**Warning: Violent thoughts.**

**Notes: Oath of Pain: Basically what Naruto did when he cut his hand with the kunai knife.**

**Words: 241**

Sakura looked at herself in the mirror.  
_Iruka-sensei..._  
She stared at her young body.  
_My love...  
_She glanced at her dresser  
_If only you would notice me.  
_Her eyes fell upon a small picture frame  
_I keep thinking that one day you will love me…  
_Naruto, Iruka, Sasuke, and Ino watch her from the frame.  
_But I am unworthy.  
_She focuses on Ino. One that sweet smile.  
_Ino_ _says you're too good for anyone...  
_Sakura picks the picture up, staring down at it.  
_Too good for anyone...but her._

She feels her anger rise as she stares at the picture  
_Why_ _aren't I good enough?  
_Her hands begin to shake, and the picture rattles.  
_Am I not pretty enough? Am I not smart enough?  
_She feels tears of anger and frustration fall onto the picture  
_I try so hard, yes Ino...she...she...  
_Her vision becomes blurred as her shaking increases  
_I just want one chance with you Iruka-sensei...one chance with love!  
_She gulps in air.  
_But she steals even that from me! Can't I love who I choose?_

Her eyes narrow, her hatred for the sweet smile enraged  
_Can't_ _I love...who...  
_She cries out and throws the picture. The glass shatters against the wall.  
_Ino_ _is vermin. Keeping me from Iruka-sensei. From MY love.  
_She calmly walks to the door and opens it.  
_I'll get your love Iruka-sensei. I swear that too you on this Oath of Pain..._

And she is gone.


	4. Bonding

**A/N: Do-do do, please review! Thanks everyone for reviewing so far!**

**Drabble #4: Bonding**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Pairing: SakuIru**

**Rating: PG-13**

**Genre: Romance/Angst**

**Warning: Implied sex.**

**Words: 170**

She wiped her face and gathered up her clothes, which were strewn across the hardwood floor. All the while, Sakura could feel the heat of his stare as Iruka watched her from where he was seated, a relaxed and debauched form draped over the back of the blue couch.

Having pulled on her clothes, she retrieved her hitai-ate from the table that held their picture, a vision of ninja in a loving embrace. Sakura shined her Konoha insignia on the headband as she felt his loving gaze, boring into her back. Putting it on, she cast one glance back, façade now appropriately in place.

"Goodbye, Iruka-sensei," she said as she walked through the door.

Wrapped in love and warmth, at herself and her love, Sakura would wait until the next time they'd meet, with much impatience, but more of longing. Longing for a taste of what could be. Hardening her resolve, Sakura decided to continue to help him as much as she can, since that is what friends are for.


	5. Unclear Relationships

**A/N: Drabbles! Whoo hoo! Here is another! Please review!**

**Drabble #5: Unclear Relationships**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Rating: PG-13**

**Genre: Romace/Psychological**

**Pairing: IruSaku SakuIru**

**Warnings: Sexual content.**

**Words: 202**

Iruka wanted to be disgusted. It was right to be disgusted.

But, instead, he felt pleased with himself.

It had to have been all his own doing, to wake up one morning and crack the eyes open...and see Haruno Sakura in his bed.

Who would have guessed?

Iruka would not have guessed it in a million years.

But Iruka was no ordinary man, for Sakura did not consider him a boy by any means.

She was all Iruka wanted to be but was afraid he would not become. Sakura was the future.

-

It had to be a nightmare.

Otherwise, there was no other reason for Umino Iruka to be in Sakura's bed. So, instead of reacting...Iruka just watched the girl sleep, for he considered Sakura a mere chuunin like himself.

A ninja who could be so destructive though. A ninja so aware of her own actions. For a moment, Iruka admires the steel beyond the fashion Sakura so desires...this girl doesn't even know her own potential.

-

'What are you doing?'

'Undoing your top...isn't that the thing to do?'

'Who says that is the thing to do, Sakura?'

'I'm making the best of it. How about you do the same, Iruka-sensei.'


	6. Real Emotion

**A/N: Another one, as always please review!**

**Drabble #6: Real Emotion**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Rating: PG-13**

**Pairing: IruSaku**

**Warnings: Iruka POV sexual content**

**Words: 153**

I must've been dreaming.

Because I don't remember walking into that tiny little room or snaking my arm about your waist or pulling you against me...

In the recess of my brain, I heard you gasp--not from fear, not that at all. I heard bobby-pins hit the wooden floor, I heard zippers sliding down.

In the eyes of a child locked away, I could see wave upon wave of pink cascade down over flesh never seen before--my skin, your skin, our skin.

A world where red petals, soft as these lips I am kissing, fall down like rain.

A world where I have grown too much, too fast, too far--you are undoing me, you are opening me so very wide...  
I woke up to find you on the floor, asleep and curled up on your side.

Those hair ties that keep your mane up, I grip them in my fist.


	7. To Face Your Past

**A/N: Still haven't ran out of ideas yet.**

**Drabble #7: To Face Your Past**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Rating: PG**

**Genre: Post Apocalyptic/ Romance**

**Pairing: SakuIru**

**Words: 221**

Sakura looked from the young man in her bed--smooth as cream skin, poured into the mold of flesh, curled up on the bed.

One leg exposed, tangled in sheet...the slight curve of the back, the ridge of spine...all vaguely seen.  
Sakura looked from this Adonis to a tiny picture.

She had found it yesterday, emptying out boxes as she moved into Iruka's place.

Sakura stumbled onto this picture on the very day she had decided that her murky past was not worth the time or effort to recall.

Sakura was moving on. With Iruka.

They met six months ago. Six months ago, sharing a taxi--one of them going to the airport, the other going home.  
Neither made it to their respective destinations.

Talks became kissing, kissing became sex, sex became love.

Sakura looks at the picture, old emotions gnawing at her bones like starving rats.

Sakura stares at the picture, willing the feelings attached to the faded image to disappear. They don't.

And the past does not come rushing back to Sakura.

Just the ache, just the disappointment, just the wounds.

Sakura wants to hate herself for tucking the little black-and-white snapshot in between the pages of her secrets, for clinging to something she cannot go back to...especially once she realizes just who she is sharing her life with.


	8. A Stitch inTime

**A/N: Taa Daa! Another one!**

**Drabble #8: A Stitch inTime**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Rating: G**

**Pairing: SakuIru**

**Words: 175**

Damp.

Humid.

Tense.

Anticipation.

That's what Sakura thought of in rapid succession as she kneels down next to Iruka in a tiny enclosed garden.  
Damp due to sweat, making her clothes feel uncomfortable.

Sweating due to the humidity in this greenhouse, the heat storing up painfully and thick in the non-existent air.

Tense because Sakura held her muscles tight, like moving too much might dislodge the memory hanging precariously at the edge of her mind, might cause words Sakura did not understand to come off of her tongue.

Anticipation. That one was harder to pin down. Sakura felt the rush in her blood when something wonderful and new and important was about to happen. She felt her pulse race as she looked up slowly into Iruka's eyes.  
Time was suspended. It had truly stopped, just for the two of them.

Time gave them a moment to look with wonder at the other, to feel that wondrous relief at finding the missing half of your battered soul.

And then the door opened. Sakura forgets the moment.


	9. And So It Begins

**A/N: This one's probably a bit confusing, basically Iruka was hurt and a little Sakura tied his hand with a bandage.**

**Title: And It Begins**

**Rating: G**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Pairing: IruSaku**

**Warning: AU-ish**

**Words: 194**

_...One..._

Iruka did not believe in himself, no matter what others might say to change his mind.  
Every morning was just another day to wake up and feel less than perfect.

Knots in his forest of hair, smelling of oil and pine...his Mother always complained about his hair.  
Why couldn't it be wavy? Why couldn't it be shorter?

But Iruka followed his father's wishes.

He saw the pictures on the wall of the kendo room, of samurai...his father thought samurais like gods, wise-beyond-years and bamboo for bones. His son would aspire to that type of stature--jokes and teasing aside.

Iruka learned to grow a thick skin and to shed the hurt like a snake.

Sakura met him one day and Iruka was stuck between finding the girl silly...and then finding the girl amazing.

His mother called Sakura 'little princess' and Iruka hated that--for he believed it as well.

Sakura was something perfect. Something Iruka would never be.

He kept the bandage for days after Sakura tied it around his hand.

Iruka held it to him as he slept, waking to find it near his lips...

He kissed it before throwing it away.


	10. Role Reversal

**A/N: This one is weird-ass, but oh well…**

**Title: Role Reversal**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Rating: G**

**Pairing: SakuIru**

**Warning: Symbolism**

**Words: 158**

_A knight upon horse, riding into fire and with sword drawn, only sees the distance between themselves and their destiny..._

'It's been told before, you know'--Sakura says into silence of her room.

'Tell it again'--Iruka asks from the shadows.

_The Prince racing up the tower steps to the imprisoned Princess, fighting off a witch and her evil minions, breaking the spell _

_on the golden lock..._

'Did you ever think I don't like to talk about this?'--Sakura questions, ignoring fear bubbling up inside her body.

'Did you ever think that I care?'--Iruka says with a laugh, drawing closer in the night and wrapping his arms about Sakura's body.

_Young beauty kidnapped and the dashing sailor braves storms to reach her shore, blade tasting much blood in pursuit of retrieving the girl..._

_  
_'That was me...once...'--Sakura moans, her body shaking. And Iruka holds her in a tighter grasp.

'But I was never that pure...'--Iruka whispers.


	11. I Can't Forget

**A/N: Another one. Please review!**

**Title: I Can't Forget**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Rating: PG**

**Pairing: IruSaku**

**Warning: Angsty Iruka, symbolism**

**Words: 218**

There is a mirror in the room and sometimes, late at night and early in the morning, Iruka stares at its flat surface. Fingers reach out and touch glass, so real that you can delude yourself that it might pull you in.

Iruka has read that book. Alice in the Looking-Glass.

But Iruka does not want to disappear into another false world, where reality cannot be seen and dreams become nightmares and everything morphs into unnatural colors...everything bleeds blood as black as ink in those places.  
And blood here? Varying shades of red--like wine, like crayons, like paint. And dreams here? They are painful, epic and unfinished--they have no end, no chosen path, no strings above to pull your arms and legs like a marionette.

And reality? It cuts into you--like icy wind, like a knife, like paper sliding over the top of your finger.

Iruka is bleeding but no one can see it.

And only one person can stop it, but she is so far hidden in the corners and doorways and cracks that Iruka cannot find her.

Iruka cannot find the right reality to fall into, the right dream to wake up to...he just bleeds unseen buckets of life until who he longs for comes along.

Iruka puts the mirror in the closet.


	12. Embracing the Darkness

**A/N: Erm, yeah another one. Enjoy and review!**

**Title: Embracing the Darkness**

**Author: Anna T.**

**Rating: G**

**Pairing: IruSaku**

**Words:116**

Our backdrop is always the same, night-scape spread out before us like a dark dark sheet, points of light creating Orion's Belt in the distance.

Our fate is still the same, even now...even with lies on top of more lies, trying so hard to cover the truth with more truth, words and more words.

But let us not talk now, both of us...watching out the window...

Who can see us standing here, so far apart? Lips moving and sentences disappearing, see us move closer without knowing we do so...who watches us now?

As we hold hands, as we have done millions of times before--and both of us realize it is not like before at all.


End file.
